September 2020

 Vlinders, Papillon and Butterflies

Our exhibition is  snow open on level 2,  Gallery 76, 76 Queen Street , Concord West. NSW.

We have all been working hard towards our exhibition and it is now open for viewing. COVID set us back a few months, though we have pulled through and the exhibition is now open. 

We still held our meeting via Zoom last Saturday, with five of us attending. Show and tell is always a treat.

Jenny had finished off another pincushion. This one had begun life as a sample for a major piece using a pulled thread stitch. The pin cushion is now with it's new owner.

Jenny had also made a needle case using scraps of linen from the same major piece. Jenny had no plan, and just started stitching. First with a buttonhole stitch edge, then a row of satin stitch and eyelets. The piece talked to her as she worked and finally grew to this needle case featuring Hardanger and pulled work. Threads used were left overs from another project. The needle case is now with its new owner.

A small section of Jo's butterfly which is part of our  Vlinders, Papillon and Butterflies exhibition. The piece is called 'Golden Butterfly' and features Gold metal leaf, machine embroidery’ French knots and appliqué. 

A snippet of Jenny's little butterfly trinket bag. The piece features counted 'Blackwork' stitches worked in blended threads.

A section of one of Robyn's butterflies featuring wire, needle lace and beads.

For the exhibition, Sheila created a number of butterflies using painted fabric samples made in a class.  The design on the fabric was the starting point for each butterfly.  This butterfly has a hand dyed cord couched over the design on the fabric and a painted felt body.  She made ten butterflies for the exhibition.

Lesley's current work in progress is apiece of Tuscan Lace. The  project is featured in  "Inspirations" issue 103. The design is by Maria Elide Melani of Italy and the technique is Deruta Sfilato. 

Jo's current project is playing with Valdani pearl cotton with satin stitch.

Jenny's current project is a piece of Hardanger, also using Valdani pearl cotton in a variegated colour. The design is from Inspirations magazine no 106 and is by Di Kirchner of Australia. 

Sheila took part in the Inchie challenge hosted by Amy Maricle:  https://www.instagram.com/amymaricle/.  She took the resulting pieces and created a small accordion button book.  Then she created a box to hold the work.  The circular pages were painted with fluid acrylics and marked with a variety of markers and paint pens.  The box was made with gelli printed card and is based on a box that Sheila has had in her collection for many years.

For the month of August, Sheila stitched on a heavy paper previously marked with india ink.  When the pages ran out before the end of the month, she converted to tracing paper, marked with white paint.  The completed pages have been assembled into a book with a coptic binding.  Details of individual pages can be found on Sheila's Instagram account:  https://www.instagram.com/thingstitcher/

Even though COVID 19 has been been making it's presence known, we have all been stitching and creating. Our exhibition  'Vlinders, Papillon and Butterflies' is  snow open on level 2,  Gallery 76, 76 Queen Street , Concord West. NSW. Please drop by in reality and have a look. Until next month, happy stitching.